1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cutting and slicing devices for cutting food, and, in particular, to devices for cutting pastry. More particularly, the present invention relates to devices having multiple blades for cutting food.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices for cutting food are known in the art. Some devices of the prior art have single blades and some have multiple blades.
It is important in serving food in schools, health care facilities, and other public and private institutions that flat sheets of food such as pastry be cut into precise and uniform portions to insure that the nutritional content of the portions served is uniform. Uniformity of served portions insures that each person served is provided with a required amount of food to meet prescribed nutritional requirements. The minimum prescribed nutritional value of the food served may be required by the institution serving the food, or may be required by state or federal law.
In some institutions, the food service workers utilized to cut or prepare the minimum portions of food to be served are unskilled, or physically and/or mentally disadvantaged. Such workers may encounter great difficulty in cutting uniform portions of food items such as pastry or other items cooked in large rectangular pans. The use of a knife having a single blade to cut uniform and precise portions of food in such pans is sometimes difficult for a skilled worker, particularly when many pans of food must be cut by a single individual and fatigue is encountered.
Exemplary of the cutting and slicing devices of the prior art are the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,343,623; 4,818,207; 4,327,489; 4,085,504; 3,545,325; 2,986,815; 2,557,539; 2,396,443; 1,805,411; 1,530,796; and 1,128,479.